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What exactly are you trying to do? You mention tripod/monopod. Are you planning on using a tripod or a monopod? Will you be bracketing your shots? Shooting mostly interior or outdoors? Do you plan on taking this rig with you when you travel? How many shots around do you want to take? Is weight the most critical factor? Do you plan on producing spherical or cylindrical panoramas? There are way too many more questions to ask. As you provide more details, better advice will follow.

I use a Sony NEX-5, Sigma 8mm f3.5 lens, lens adapter, R1 and a monopod when I travel. The entire rig weighs less than 4 pounds.

If you are going to use a tripod, do you plan on using a remote control? That might be kind of difficult since you will need to add something to the camera in order to make sure the remote will work from behind the camera.

People will always gravitate towards you when you iniclude people in your panorama. That is one reason I like shooting panos with people in them. I love capturing the looks on people’s faces as they try to figure out exactly what I am doing.

What exactly are you trying to do? You mention tripod/monopod. Are you planning on using a tripod or a monopod?
* I will be using a self standing monopod.Will you be bracketing your shots?
* Yes, at least 3 shots. -1 0 +1Shooting mostly interior or outdoors?
* Outdoors. Do you plan on taking this rig with you when you travel?
* Yes, its for travel only. Plan is to visit 20 biggest cities in Norway.How many shots around do you want to take?
* 5-10 pano, with 6+2+1 shots bracked x 3. So around 300-500 shots a day. Is weight the most critical factor?
* Not important, today I travel with D3x and heavy tripod.Do you plan on producing spherical or cylindrical panoramas?
* Plan is to produce stereographic projections of equirectangular panoramas. In other words - litle planets like this one.

heh yeah, but haven't been so successful with people in pano, but I will surly explore it when I have a bit more experience.

How is Sigma 8mm in sharpness?.. Will it be suficient for 24mpx sensor in NEX-7?..

How is using R1 with adapter?.. does it has anything to say?.. or let me ask, is it better to use lens with native E-mount or using with adapter is the same?..

The NEX-3/5/7 cameras do not do 1 full stop bracketing. You would have to manually change the exposure in order to get the full 1 stop. If you shoot RAW, you should be just fine shooting 1 image, then creating the three exposures you want.

I would not use a self standing monopod. It would be tragic if the rig fell over. Keeping your hand on a the camera when using a regular monopod is a less risky choice and will keep the camera very steady.

This is the rig I currently use for travel:

I bubble level helps keep the rig plumb while I capture the pano. "Guestimating" 90 degrees of angular rotation is very easy. I have messed up only 1 time. I use 5 degrees of tilt in order to fill in the Zenith. I take 1 or 2 (depending on shadows) hand held Nadir patch shots.

The Sigma 8mm lens is plenty sharp. Here is my latest set, all shot with the NEX-5/Sigma 8mm http://www.dlsphoto.net/Yosemite2011/Yosemite2011.htm. The lens adapter does not allow the lens to communicate with the body. This is no big deal since most all panoramas are shot in full manual mode anyway.

Samyang is scheduled to release a 7.5mm 4/3 lens that looks like it will be smaller and lighter than the Sigma 8mm lens.
The adapter is paper thin.
The hope is that this will replace the Sigma 8mm and still allow 4 around at 5 degrees + Nadir patch.

As I have learned, overall quality of the finished panorama is more than just lens selection. An ineffecient workflow can kill a pano.

On a 4/3 sensor, the 7.5 will give you a 180 diagonal image, much like the Nikon 10.5mm lens on a D300. You would still need 6 shots around. On an APS-C sensor, the Sigma 7.5 4/3 lens you will get a cropped circular image. I am hoping the image is the same as with the Sigma 8mm lens. This way I can replace the 8 (and the big lens adapter) with the 7.5 (and the paper thin adapter) and end up with an even smaller rig that requires only 4 shots around. I might have to shave off the lens hood.

Dennis do you need to readjust focus if you move Sigma 8mm between Nikon and NEX. After your inspiring photos and setup, I build my rig with R10 and I got pretty good result. I took at least 3 to 4 scene per weekend :). I am now thinking of getting NEX7 since it will have higher pixel count and very light compare to DSLR. I am not sure how easy it is to take with NEX though.

...
I would not use a self standing monopod. It would be tragic if the rig fell over. Keeping your hand on a the camera when using a regular monopod is a less risky choice and will keep the camera very steady.
...

The Sigma 8mm lens is plenty sharp. Here is my latest set, all shot with the NEX-5/Sigma 8mm http://www.dlsphoto.net/Yosemite2011/Yosemite2011.htm. The lens adapter does not allow the lens to communicate with the body. This is no big deal since most all panoramas are shot in full manual mode anyway.

...

As I have learned, overall quality of the finished panorama is more than just lens selection. An ineffecient workflow can kill a pano.

Dennis

Idea of that monopod is to use it with RD4 rotator - its almost like a tripod. I have used it with D3x and a 70-200 - pretty darn stable. Only issue with it - leveling as it needs flat ground for small legs at the bottom. So maybe I will add EZ Leveler...

Your panos looks great! Inspiring work indeed! My litle planets I will be printing out in gallery size and quality. Thats the main reason for current 24mpx FX camera and 16mm 2.8 lens. I understand that it will be dificult to get some quality of a crop sensor and lenses. But personly I dont mind taking 6 + 2.

So basically Im looking for the sharpest, best quality mirror-less camera+lens setup, regardless of the price.

Dennis do you need to readjust focus if you move Sigma 8mm between Nikon and NEX. After your inspiring photos and setup, I build my rig with R10 and I got pretty good result. I took at least 3 to 4 scene per weekend :). I am now thinking of getting NEX7 since it will have higher pixel count and very light compare to DSLR. I am not sure how easy it is to take with NEX though.

Thanks for the compliment.

The adapter does not duplicate the lens mounting flange to sensor distance. It is about 1/32 off. I had to adjust the focus setting from 1m to .4m. No big deal since I only shoot panos with this rig and everything is set to manual anyway.

Shooting panoramas with the NEX-5 is a dream. The live view shows you what the exposure will be as you make your adjustments. You no longer need to take a picture, look at it, adjust, take another picture, etc. I programmed the function buttons to control white balance, shutter speed and ISO. It is a snap to make adjustments. No menu navigation required.

You HAVE to shoot RAW since JPEG looks so crappy right out of the camera.

Im sorry to bringing this back, but what is:The best EVIL setup for 360 pano on R1/R10?

Im open for any system, lens og setup. Havnet tried much outside of Nikon, but since I do 90% of my photo in M-mode, its sharpnes and lens quality which are #1 priority.
I will be also doing A1/A2 prints so its very important that results are good for large prints.